


The Phoenix

by Obsidian Fireheart (ObsidianFireheart)



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-07 18:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianFireheart/pseuds/Obsidian%20Fireheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having grown up with the tides of war, Tails is sick of the pacifist way of life he has grown up with. His first true mission outside of Sally's watchful eye leads him to see the gruesome reality that he lives in. Something must be done about it, and Tails is convinced that he can't find that help where he is. He must turn to someone else for answers...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Gathering Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is my first foray into AO3, but not fanfiction in general. I wrote this work a while ago, but never got the chance to publish it to FFN. I'll list it here and see what happens. I draw inspiration for this story especially from Cap'n Chryssalid's Cycle of Ages series, which this work therefore may seem similar to. For now, I'll let this story develop, and we'll see where that takes us.
> 
> Happy reading!

_“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”_

_-Sun Tzu_

 

**_October 23, 3238; 2224 hours: Knothole_ **

So it begins, Miles “Tails” Prower thought bleakly as he gazed out into the horizon. It was dark, the sound of crickets and frogs permeated the atmosphere, but the young fox did not care about that. His golden fur was somewhat matted and his hair was long, signs of tiredness, fatigue, and neglect. Truth be told, morale in the young vulpine’s heart was wearing thin – Knothole had mounted an official campaign against Robotnik’s forces, branching out to more than just the twelfth brigade (The SWATbot task force which patrolled the great forest that formed Knothole’s primary defense) and the occasional raid to Robotropolis. It was now or never, and Princess SallyAcorn – Aunt Sally – finally found it within her frail heart to do something more productive.

The boy sighed, leaning back on the warm structure of his roof to gaze at the pale orb suspended in the inky sky above. It was for nothing, he thought. Well – He didn’t know if that was his own thinking that or his teenage angst. The doubt occupied his mind and wouldn’t leave. It was something that he hated, this feeling. A feeling of regret for ever being born in this situation.

Tails would be turning thirteen tomorrow. However, he didn’t see his birthday as a good thing. Last year, he had gotten what he wished for in joining the Freedom Fighter’s primary frontline force. However, this joining was on a probationary basis, and tomorrow, he would be given the powers and responsibilities of a full-fledged member of the Freedom Fighters.

But he wasn’t ready. It wasn’t that he believed himself to be inexperienced. In the contrary, he felt more than ready. The feeling was caused by his worry. He didn’t want to leave his friends behind once again, and he knew that in the coming missions, he would have to. There was no say in the matter – his skills lied in many places different from those of the other Freedom Fighters, and he knew that Aunt Sally would take every step to maximize the group’s efficiency and power, being the small force it was. So Tails accepted that he would indeed have to be split from his friends a lot of the time.

But he didn’t want them to die in his absence.

Perhaps it was the innate knowledge he carried, that he could supervise his friends. It was something instinctual, reflexive, and uncontrollable. He hated being left away while his best friends – his family – were risking their lives while he sat there twiddling his thumbs. Even if they were on a keyboard, or building things, it wasn’t the same. But he knew that’s where he would go – The frontline hacker, or a spy.

He lowered his face into his hands. Why him? Why was this whole war happening?

But he knew the answer already.

**_October 24, 3238; 0546 hours: Knothole_ **

The morning light appeared right on schedule, piercing the young fox’s eyelids. He squirmed and rolled over, but found it was of no use. Grudgingly, he admitted defeat to the sun this time and rose, finding himself still on the roof from last night.

I must have fallen asleep here, he thought tiredly as he rubbed any sleep out of his eyes. His ruffled bangs fell into his eyes, but he paid them no heed as he agilely leapt off of the roof, landing in a crouch before dusting his knees off.

He had to admit, Knothole was peaceful when no one was up and about. It was still sunrise, and although people like Aunt Sally would no doubt be awake, those like his pal Sonic would be indubitably still fast asleep. His dark blue eyes scanned the area, relishing the shady beauty the forest offered. Knothole wasn’t a city or even a village so much as a group of huts that miraculously found themselves together, and whose inhabitants had a similar goal. He could see the huts not lined up but placed in a disorderly pseudo-array. The roofs were bright, enjoying the sun’s warmth, and shading the area below. However, given the sun’s current angle, their shade wasn’t much needed, for the trees provided enough at this time if one stood by them. Tails liked to escape from the sun in this fashion, enjoying the temperature and the peace. He could hear many things in the mornings, various feral animals waking up and starting their daily routines, whatever they may be. He heard birds tweeting and small animals chattering. The wind rolled lazily by, occasionally blessing the world with a slight refreshing gust. The sun’s light here colored the glade in such a way that made everything usual seem a tad more vibrant and new.

He made his way toward the resident princess’s hut, rapping softly on the door before entering anyway. He knew Sally would be up, even if it was merely five in the morning. He knew because she was a morning person anyways, just like himself.

Tails chucked to himself as he thought of Sally and her habits. She was such a workaholic, as was he. She was the brains of the operation, even as much as it developed, with all the new inhabitants of Knothole she still insisted that she take the helm. It was correct, as she was a princess, but at the same time Tails did not want her in danger. Any more than she him, he thought wryly. They both cared for each other more than they knew.

“Aunt Sally,” Tails greeted, “Good morning.”

She nodded back to him as she turned from her seat at the desk. The boy looked over the documents that laid bare on her workplace briefly before deciding that he shouldn’t be nosy.

“You seem excited for your thirteenth.” Sally quipped.

“No, I’m actually not,” Tails managed to restrain himself from saying. Rather, his mouth wisely decided to say something along the lines of an affirmative response.

“You ready to begin making full contributions to our efforts, Tails? I know that’s what you’ve come in here for.”

“Heh, guilty as charged.” Tails put on a grin in order to cover up his nervousness and took a seat on Sally’s bed. They said nothing for a few moments, awkwardness ensuing. “I, uh, suppose that’s what I came in here to ask, about what exactly I would do now.”

“Well…” Sally put up what it was that she was working on, turning her chair toward him and clasping her hands together over her lap. “You would most likely remain where you are as a techie; your skills there are immeasurable. However, the difference, as you know, lies in the fact that you are now able to take,” She paused unnoticeably, “independent solo missions, such as more espionage related things rather than directly doing onsite hacking and whatnot to aid a campaign. In fact…” Again she paused. Tails knew that it was hard for her to say this. He knew that she felt that, by saying these words, she was condemning him, but the fox had to hear them. “I would place you most likely in espionage. It won’t be uncommon where you leave for extended periods of time. I could imagine you hijacking one of Robotnik’s outposts and such and staying there for… months…” She trailed off. Tails nodded in confirmation.

“I see. All I needed was the confirmation, Aunt Sally.” He put on a grin. He was nervous, oh gods he was nervous! But she didn’t need to know that. “I’m entirely ready. Don’t worry about me. A bird’s gotta leave his nest sometime after all, right?”

“Right…” Sally’s eyes became dark and clouded. She was pensive. Tails took the moment to give her a hug before dismissing himself.

“I’ll be around the woods if you need me.” He said, before exiting. Sally sat there, unmoving.

Why did Tails feel so concerned?

**_October 24, 3238; 0656 hours: Knothole_ **

He remembered being small.

_The scent of flowers assailed his nose as he took generous whiffs of the area. A grin lit his face as he wandered through the meadow of colors._

He remembered his innocence.

_The war with Robotnik did not concern him this moment. It could have, Tails knew that it was soon his time to be a freedom fighter trainee, and he couldn’t be more excited. His Aunt Sally walked beside him calmly as he whirled around, using up the last of his childhood. But he didn’t know that._

_“Tails.” She began. He did not listen, too preoccupied with the idea of becoming, in his mind, an adult. “Tails! Pay attention!”_

_Aunt Sally didn’t usually snap like that. She now had the young fox’s undivided attention._

_“Listen, Tails…” She began, more softly. “You must remember what I’m about to tell you. There will be times when we are losing.”_

_He nodded._ He remembered his ignorance. _“But why? Sonic will just take care of them, right?”_

 _She smiled._ He recalled it having a hint of sadness. _“Sonic can’t do everything, Tails. What I’m trying to say is that… Remember to do your best. Sonic may be the fastest of us, but there’s a power inside of you too. We just have to find it.”_

_He nodded. “Right!”_

“What a fool I am.”

Tails sat down again by the tree. But he was no longer contented by the sounds and smells of his surroundings. No bird calls comforted him, and the wind’s caress did not reach him. His mind lingered on his mission, the mission he knew he was going to have.

 _“Aunt Sally?”_ He remembered asking, _“Will we win?”_

 _Sally_ _smiled at him._ It was such a strange move to make. To this day he still did not know why she smiled at him. Was it because of his naïveté? _“Sure we will. All you have to do is do your part when the time comes.”_

Tails closed his eyes. His mind racing. He took a deep breath, feeling his chest rising. He felt it. This was no time to sit and wait. He was ready for his mission.

A lone cloud obscured the sun.

**_October 25, 3238; 0735 hours: Freedom HQ_ **

Tails did not notice that the room was stuffy. He did not notice the creaking of the chair as he unconsciously shifted back and forth. He did not notice when he cradled his head on his intertwined hands and he most certainly did not notice the blinding sunlight that speared his pupils. He did not notice any of that. He rather concentrated on Sally and only Sally. He concentrated on only his mission, nothing more.

As she briefed, Tails listened raptly, so he noticed when she began to address him specifically.

“Tails, you’re going to disable Robotnik’s security mainframe while Sonic enters the base. Whilst doing so, you are to collect as much data on its operation as you can and report back to me.”

Tails nodded. “Any specific info you want?” He asked.

“We need shift change times and blueprints and plans for his future designs mostly. Use discretion on what else you need to pick up. I’ll lend you NICOLE for this assignment to get into his system. You’ll leave two hours or so depending on what you find before the main push in order to relay the information back to us.”

“Wait! Sal, Sal, hold the phone here,” Sonic shook his head vigorously; “You want us to send Tails _alone_ to Robuttnik’s pad? Are you insane?”

“Listen, Sonic. Tails told me this morning that he is ready for whatever I have for him, and we need this information. We’ve trained him to be exactly what we lack, a spy! If one of us comes with him, we could compromise his stealth.”

“There are so many uncool things that could go on, Sal. We can’t send Tails right up to Robuttnik’s grimy hands, that’s a no go!”

“Sonic.” Tails cut in before Sally could argue back. “I’m ready for this. I’ve done countless simulations with NICOLE on Doctor Robotnik’s security measures; I’ve versed myself on everything you all have told me on his robot types and how to beat them. I’m all set. I can do this.”

Sonic’s face turned solemn. He looked Tails dead in the eye. His foot was tapping. “Are you so sure, big guy? There are so many things that guy can do to you. We don’t wanna see you roboticized, bud. Nuh uh.” He sighed, looked away from Tails then looked back. The fox didn’t flinch. His dark gaze said it all.

“Sonic. I’m ready.”

**_October 25, 3238; 0943 hours: The Rannart_ **

The air around Robotropolis was filled with the spirits of dead men and their dreams. It was apparent to Tails that; as the land was flattened, barren, and torn asunder by the war; there would be no redemption for the ghosts of the innocent whose blood stained the soil now unseen. An eternal fog permeated the winds of this land, and it polluted the hearts of those who walked it. The corpses of grass billowed in the foul breeze, reminding the fox that what once had been a meadow was now a battlefield. The Rannart was a shell of its former self. It pained Tails to see the power that Robotnik carried, to change a climate from such beauty and mildness into the roil of poison and disparity that it was now. The novice warrior feared his for his boots, as the muddy ground was moist with a liquid that very well might not be water, and the scent that filled his nose begged him to quicken his pace.

Of course, that wasn’t to say that at this current moment in time, the yellow of the grass didn’t help him. Crouching down, he found that it actually served as valid camouflage, with the surrounding foliage being consistently at least four feet tall, it was more than easy to hide in the dense plant life. He was more than aware, with his fluency in technology, that Robotnik’s typical border patrol robots relied majorly on their optical sensors. They couldn’t differentiate between the wind rustling the dead grass or something else. As such, it made a fantastic entry point for the fox, whose fur allowed for near invisibility while in it.

“And here we are.” He whispered to himself as he approached the metallic wall of Robotropolis. The grass still covered him, so he sidled along the face of the wall across, looking for a point of entry. There were vents all over the fortification, but most were too small or too high up to allow for feasible entry. Thus, Tails had resorted to moving around the wall, trying to find a possible port from which to breach its defenses, without compromising his stealth.

His patience prevailed as the grasses parted to reveal a small creek which flowed under the wall, through a cage. His nose crinkled as the odor of the polluted water filled it, but he steeled himself, as this was his point of entry. Taking a quick breath, he dove under the water and kicked the cage in before swimming through.

**_October 25, 3238; 1002 hours: Robotropolis_ **

He made absolutely sure to check his surroundings thoroughly before he fully surfaced, and he finally did so when he could not see any cameras or patrolling robots. He was inside a material depot, considering his surroundings, which judging by the water flow doubled as a hydroelectric power plant. There were metal crates and containers everywhere. The air was stale and moist. Tails wondered what was in here, as he didn’t hear any clanging footfalls or hums of air boosters. Either there wasn’t anything valuable inside of here, or getting out would be very hard.

He meandered through the boxes, double checking every time he rounded a corner so as to make sure that his aloneness was not false. From what he could tell, there was nothing important in here. It would be too time consuming to open any of the boxes, so he resolved to find the exit to this room and hurry to a computer terminal, where completing his mission would be a snap.

He found a pair of large doors and pushed them open. They took great force to do so, so Tails figured that they hadn’t been opened in a long time. That meant he had been in an obsolete warehouse, which further meant that there would be little security around this location. He grinned at his luck and as he exited, he made sure to keep close to a wall at all times as he exited the building.

The ground was dirt mostly, with metal scrap lining the outer edges. Keeping in the scrap parts made it easier to hide, so that’s what Tails made sure to do. Still, he abhorred the rotten stench emerging from the area.

Tails was versed in the Eggman’s security measures. He had gone over intelligence that the others had provided many times and come to his own conclusions also. His objective was to obtain the time schedule for his patrols and the blueprints of Robotropolis’s innards. Thankfully, since the city was patrolled by robots, a detailed map of the city was necessary to be stored digitally for their navigation purposes. He looked toward the skyline, seeing the spire that Robotnik himself was most likely in. It was obviously the most fortified of all the buildings, as it housed the main computer.

The fox was absolutely certain that he would be unable to enter that building without backup, so he resolved to locate instead a subordinate terminal. From what intelligence told him, he knew that there were three of them in this city, each situated in a triangle around the main command center. He also theorized that they were only for reading purposes. He knew that each terminal contained a server subordinate to the master server. They each served as backup images. The reason why there were three was simple – if one was detected to be different from the other two, then the discrepancy would automatically be fixed, meaning that any alterations would last only one clock cycle, unable to matter in that time. The data path between the subordinate servers and the master server was gated. Data flowed freely from the master server to the subordinates, but in the opposite direction it was filtered heavily so that no data other than status updates could pass through without configuration from the master server. It was brilliant, and for Tails’s mission, it thankfully did not matter that much, as all he was here for was to read from Robotnik’s servers.

He stopped against a building and caught his breath for a moment. Noting the wires that connected with this building and the spire, it had to be a hotspot for some action. He hoped that he was correct in assuming it was a terminal.

Tails placed an ear toward the door, listening for activity inside. He heard some, so he decided to take an alternate route. Atop a pile of scrap opened an air duct, so the fox scurried up and into the hole provided. Once inside the small space, he fished out a handheld from his tool belt and held it in front of him. “NICOLE, scan this building please.”

“As you wish Tails.” The program complied, taking only a few moments to bring up a holographic map of the innards of the building. There were many computers in the building; it was impossible to tell exactly which one was the terminal from the hologram, and it would be too risky to go down only to have to visit multiple computers.

“Can you show me which one is most likely one of the terminals described in the mission briefing?”

The computer paused and analyzed its data. “Judging by wiring paths and data traffic, there is an 85 percent chance that the object highlighted is your mark. Is that all, Tails?”

“Yes NICOLE. Please hibernate and cease all wireless communication.”

The hologram flickered away. Having an eidetic memory, Tails had long since memorized the map, so using an acute sense of direction he crawled through the air ducts until he arrived at a vent. He peeked through it, and saw his mark, but also many SWATbots below.

“Hmm….” He thought to himself. “What would be the best way to go about this…?”

He scanned the robots’ formation until he noticed a blind spot from which he could attack. Four patrolled along the perimeter of the room, and two looked out from the center, and two stood on each side of the terminal. It was heavily guarded, so it was a gambit, but the point in between the two in the center could work if he played his cards right.

He checked his supplied, happily noting that there was a flash bomb in his pack. That would screw with the sentries’ optics for a bit. He dropped the object through the grate and waited for it to go before he kicked the cage through, eyes closed and dropped to the center.

When he was still training, he was taught how to fight and to effectively dispose of robots by Sonic and Bunnie. With them he honed his strength and speed, and with Antoine he was taught the finesse of fighting. Having studied this model of SWATbot rigorously, he knew all of their weak points, so it was quick work to dispose of all eight scrambled robots.

First, he delivered two quick chops to the robots that surrounded him, aiming for their necks, which severed their optics from their processors, effectively making them useless. He then destroyed the four along the walls each by kicking their lightly-armored chest cavity in, which punctured their hard drives and corrupted their BIOS and OS data. The two beside the computer were different models and more heavily armored, so he took care to collapse their optical sensors before shoving his foot roughly through their midsections, taking care of vital wiring. He tossed the useless hunks of metal away from the terminal before they self-destructed.

“There we go.” He clapped his hands together and placed them on his hips before looking at the terminal. “Now how do I get in here?”

He eyed the computer thoroughly, seeing no ports to enter. The only input method was the keyboard.

“Guess I’m going without NICOLE’s magic on this.” He sighed, and got to work manually hacking the computer. “NICOLE, power on.”

The little computer turned on. “Yes Tails?”

“Record my words and store them, and prompt me for mission objectives as I look into this computer.”

“Yes Tails.” NICOLE spoke. “Identify patrol schedule.”

Tails looked through the computer. “Patrol schedule for all borders today is based on the following increments of minutes. Depending on location importance, the interval is longer. For all gates the change is at 0330 hours daily. The main command center outer perimeter changes at 1345 hours every other day, and will change today.”

He continued, following NICOLE’s prompts as they came. “Additional information.”

Tails looked through the system for anything that would be of interest. He came upon an interesting data cluster and read it. A frown etched across his face. “Urgent information: Robotnik has limited data on his subordinate servers covering a project known as SOL. Whether or not this is a weapon is unknown. Actually… from what I can gather, this project is a new model of robot…”

He clicked enter. His voice lost its mechanical tone as fear flooded through him.

“Oh shit. SOL comprises of robot models with organic parts. Judging from the information provided, I can assume that this is a new stage of partial roboticization. I can imagine… that he plans to use organic intelligence, but alter them in some way to make them his slaves.” He accessed a new file and paused, now he had a reason to be mortified. “Robotnik plans on introducing this as through a contagious viral agent. I recommend cancellation of the coming attack. NICOLE, end recording.”

“Yes Tails.” The computer chirped.

“NICOLE, access this computer wirelessly.”

The computer complied, and a progress bar opened up on the screen. Tails watched intently as NICOLE tried to access the terminal. The terminal then spoke.

“Malicious hardware detected. Terminating process.”

“NICOLE! Get out of there!” Tails hissed urgently.

“Error: You do not have sufficient access privileges to issue commands.” NICOLE replied back.

Tails then opened the handheld and removed the battery, forcing the connection to be lost.

“Error: Connection lost.” The terminal spat. “One intruder detected in command room, terminal two. Identification: MilesPrower, priority three. Terminating.”

Gas began to fill the room, and panic filled the fox’s heart equally. With this gas, the air duct would be dangerous, so he made sure he had NICOLE and bolted out of the door, kicking it off its hinges. The SWATbots around the room were immediately alerted to his presence, but he paid no heed as the gas began to fill the building at alarming speeds. The fox made it to the door, but it was much stronger and could not be forcibly removed, so he took a deep breath and held it in his lungs as he worked the number pad on the door, trying to crack the code.

It took about a minute before he managed to get the door open. His lungs burned like fire, and he dashed out away from the gaseous chamber before taking a momentary breather. His reprieve didn’t last long, however, as sentries flooded the alerted location. His training kicked in, and he dodged the bullets and lasers the robots issued in a mad dash for the exit.

Seeing the river from which he entered, the fox jumped and held his hands ahead, diving into the water and swimming away as fast as he could.

**_October 25, 3238; 1030 hours: The Rannart_ **

It was a while before he crawled out of the water back in the Rannart, utterly exhausted. He found himself not too far from the GreatForest, so he set to walking at a relaxed pace, confident that he lost his pursuers. He decided to assess the implications of whatever the terminal had done to NICOLE before he cut the power.

“NICOLE, power on.”

The computer booted up. “Hello Tails.”

“List all status updates and changes made to the system since 1000 hours today.”

“1008 hours: Scan of terminal facility completed and placed into memory. 1015 hours: Recording made by you. Shall I replay it?”

“No, continue your report.”

“Very well. 1018 hours: Connection attempted to terminal. 1018 hours: Attack detected. 1018 hours: Administrator permissions changed. 1018 hours: Power interrupted. 1030 hours: Corrupted sectors in primary volume restored to most recent backup.”

“Good. Were any files written to memory by the terminal that were not removed by backup?”

“Yes.”

“Delete them.”

“Access denied.”

“Restore permissions to match most recent backup.”

“Permissions already match most recent backup.”

“Can Sally access these files?”

“Yes.”

“When Sally next accesses the system, prompt her to go over these files. Do not allow changes of permissions unless commands are issued vocally by me, or Sally… or Rotor also.”

“Very well.”

Tails sighed. His feet had taken him to the GreatForest already. There wasn’t much farther to go after this. His thoughts wandered to the information he found on the terminal. That Robotnik would now be using biochemical technology mortified him. He didn’t even know that Robotnik was so well versed outside of engineering, but now that he looked backward he shouldn’t have been so surprised. That madman seemed to know everything.

He stopped. So why didn’t he know where Knothole was? The more Tails thought about it, the stranger that reality became. There were many ways to locate their shabby base. It would have been easy enough to send along a tracking bug after them.

Well, maybe not Sonic, but a bug could easily follow the others. There could be a bug following Tails right now and he wouldn’t even know it.

He began walking again, but shifted uneasily. There was something fishy about all of this. Why didn’t Robotnik go after Knothole? There was only one solution and it made perfect sense.

Knothole wasn’t his objective. Tails laughed ruefully at this realization. They had been so arrogant to assume that Robotnik was going after them. No, they were merely a thorn in his side. There was something in the GreatForest he was looking for, but it wasn’t them.

It was something much bigger.

**_October 25, 3238; 1058 hours: Knothole_ **

As NICOLE finished giving her report and Tails’ recording, Sally’s heart beat wildly in her chest. She was just as afraid as Tails had been, for from now forward, the war against Robotnik would be much harder. It would be very difficult to attack him if he could just sling a virus their way and take control of her allies.

“So, this virus is complete then?” Sally asked Tails, who sat across from her.

“I didn’t find conclusive information on that front.” Tails replied. “But I can guess somewhat certainly that it is still in the prototype stages, based on what data I did find. Nonetheless, Aunt Sally, if we play our cards right, we won’t be in as much danger from the virus.”

Sally blinked. “How?”

“Well,” Tails began; recounting the days he sat with his nose in some book. That had been his ultimate pastime when not working on a project. “Any biological material is delicate. Viruses are a little more resilient, but the truth is that in order to maintain maximum effectiveness, they must be within a certain temperature and pH level, lest they be denatured. I didn’t find any information on what this environmental range is, but we can assume that it is around that of a Mobian body, considering its target.”

“Okay,” Sally said, “so avoid areas that we find comfortable then. Great.”

Tails crossed his fingers, propping his chin up over his knees. “Sally. Don’t be discouraged. There are still many opportunities to weaken his forces, and to go from there. I also figured out another bit of information.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s certain evidence to support that we are not his primary target.”

“Excuse me?” Sally leaned forward on her chair. Tails leaned back and placed his feet on the ottoman between them.

“Think about it. Knothole is a petty city filled with petty fighters. The only true threat is Sonic, who once eliminated, renders us a non-issue. We’re not even a thorn in his side.” Tails argued. “That and, why do you think he hasn’t found Knothole yet? Because he’s not looking for it. He’s looking for something else in the GreatForest, something bigger.”

Sally crossed her arms. “NICOLE, evaluate the chances on what Tails is proposing.”

“Given the evidence, Sally, what Tails is proposing has a 98 percent chance of being accurate.”

Tails smirked. “NICOLE, based on our excursion today, can you evaluate our effectiveness against Robotnik’s forces total? With and without Sonic please?”

“Evaluating… With Sonic: five percent effectiveness. Without Sonic: Negligible.”

Sally’s lips pursed. “Tails, what is your point on all of this?”

“Sally, I learned something today. Things are getting serious out there. We need to step it up to meet all of this threat. Otherwise, we will be brushed to the side.”

Sally raised her voice, speaking vehemently. “We have Sonic still! He does major damage to all of Robotnik’s robots-”

“What if Sonic were killed, Sally?” Tails snarled. Seeing Sally’s shocked expression, his voice dropped. “What then? We can’t rely on Sonic forever. He’s just as susceptible as the rest of us to that virus, and what if some stray bullet nailed him? You’re taking this too easily, Sally, we-”

“Don’t talk to me about easy, Tails!” Sally yelled. “You’re not leading a losing fight every day. You’re not sending people out to battle knowing they might not come back. This is the afterglow of your first mission, Tails. You don’t know how everything is going.”

“That’s because you won’t let me.” He spoke quietly, yet loudly at the same time. “I’ve seen this war from the sidelines all my life, and when I finally am allowed to share my thoughts you deny me that? I may have little to no field experience, but I can assure you that I know exactly how you’re managing this campaign, and I’ll let you know that I believe what you’re doing is wrong. If you wish to send us all to our deaths then go right ahead, but when it comes to me helping you mismanage this charade, then count me out.” He stood from his seat, turning around.

“Tails, you will sit down and speak to me.” Sally said firmly.

He did look back at her, but his dark eyes were filled with contempt. “I don’t think I have anything else to talk about. Good day, Aunt Sally.” He walked out of the door, not slamming it as he exited.

Sally sat there in silence for half a minute before allowing her head to fall into her palms. “Oh what have I done to him? NICOLE, was he right about all of this?”

The computer sat in silence for a bit, before speaking. “I’m sorry, but I cannot answer that question, Sally.”

NICOLE then beeped. “Sally, Tails requested that you look at certain files that he was not able to access. I will bring them up now.”

**_October 25, 3238; 1123 hours: Knothole_ **

Tails stormed to his hut, slamming the door as he entered, before flopping onto his chair. He reached over his side table and retrieved a binder hidden behind his bookshelf. He opened it and penciled in his latest findings, under the tab labeled “Operation Documents.”

“Obviously, Sally doesn’t know what she’s doing. But I do, and I intend to set things straight.” He mumbled to himself as he wrote. When he was done, he flipped through his binder, looking at all of the papers and notes he collected from various places in Knothole, especially when the Freedom Fighters would go and leave him alone in Knothole, save for one who would be too busy keeping an eye out for trouble to notice Tails’ internal espionage efforts.

Inside of his binder were papers stolen from Rotor and Sally, papers which detailed operation plans and tactics outlines. As he flipped through, he noticed a correlation among these files.

All of them were poorly thought out, and as such, the missions, at least those he had recorded down, all ended badly.

He had learned from this mission today, he realized. There would be no blind faith in Sally, not anymore. The situation was on a far larger scale than she realized; and he had been blinded by this ignorance just this morning. He closed his binder and set it down just as he heard a tapping on his window. Looking about, he noticed a hawk sitting on the window sill. Why not? He figured, and opened the window to allow the bird in. The hawk landed on his side table and deposited a small box before taking off.

“What’s this?” Tails held it and opened it up, making sure to draw the curtains closed before he did so. Inside were a letter in an envelope and a small electronic device. He opened the letter first, noting the fancy handwriting.

_Hello Tails,_

_We haven’t met, but do not be alarmed at this letter. I am sure that you realize now that the tides of your struggle against Robotnik seem to be growing grimmer as the situation becomes clear. As you are a spy, it will be a good measure to establish a network of contacts in order to get information in places where you normally would not be able to reach. I will volunteer to be your first contact. Allow me to cement this partnership by presenting you with the enclosed gift. Its name is PHOENIX. Use it wisely._

_We may only escape our darkest fears by trumping the light that blinds us._

_Your friendly correspondent,  
S_

“S must be an alias,” Tails mused. There was no way that someone would give their name – or anything related to a name, for S would be a remarkably weird given name – so freely in a situation like this. Could this S fellow even be trusted? He or she gave the impression of being rather about the situation he was currently in. Or did he or she actually know nothing and was just fishing for information?

Tails looked to the other item in the parcel, apparently called PHOENIX. It was a small computer. He figured that it would function similarly to NICOLE.

“PHOENIX, power on.”

The screen flashed on. In a distinctly female voice, it said, “I am PHOENIX. What is your name?”

“MilesPrower.” Tails said. “But call me Tails.”

“Authenticating. Please repeat the sentence, ‘The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.’”

He did so, and let PHOENIX do its work.

“Vocal patterns recorded. Hello Tails. I am to be of good use to you as a personal assistant.”

“Lovely.” Tails said. Why would S give him this? “Please tell me about yourself. Specifications and whatnot.”

As the computer did so and Tails listened, he couldn’t help but feel that the situation was changing, and he would be a big player in it.

But who was S?

 

 


	2. Rain and Thunder

_“Sweat saves blood.”  
-Erwin Rommel_

**_November 1, 3238; 1456 hours: Freedom HQ_ **

With the week gone, it was apparent to Tails that what he observed previously was true. Sally’s incompetence as a leader was blatantly obvious, as it should have been even to the untrained civilian. It seemed that none of Knothole’s leadership knew anything of strategy and tactics, and that bothered the young spy to no end.

He still kept an ear out to his orders, however. As the junior soldier to everyone else in the room, it wouldn’t have been wise to ignore any potential instructions. But that did not stop him from rolling his eyes as Sally or Sonic spoke.

“We will continue our campaign against Robotnik’s forces.” Sally introduced the next topic of discussion, and Tails chose to tune in fully. “In one hour, we will strike one of his outposts, hopefully removing one of his refuel stations and crippling his effectiveness in that region.”

“Okay Sal, leave it to me!” Sonic gave a thumbs-up, grinning. “Spin and win time, eh?”

“Of course Sonic,” She said, “You’re our main artillery here.”

That discussion continued back and forth; Tails eyed the speakers back and forth with ennui until he decided to interject.  “Sally,” He said. “This idea is ludicrous.”

Sally eyed him sternly, her eyes narrowing. As it was now obvious, Sally and Tails’s relationship had only degraded up to this point. Since their confrontation a week ago Tails noticed that Sally would look at him with anger in her eyes – or perhaps was it disappointment? The young fox did not care either way, however. He loved Sally with all of his heart – he still looked to her as an aunt, but he no longer believed in Sally as a leader. Sally however, over the past week, seemed not to reciprocate that affection.

His blind adoration of Knothole’s leadership had faded since that mission. Although always suspicious, his little field experience in war had already erased the child in him and opened his mind to the brutal reality that existed outside of his sheltered home. They always said that war changed people, but was it really that dramatic of a transformation? Of course, the evidence was obvious, and at this point even Tails did not care to debate it.

Sally spoke. “What do you suggest, then, Tails?”

Tails clasped his hands, darkening his gaze and steeling his face as he learned to do, hiding his intent, while at the same time, channeling it with every fiber of his being. He laughed internally. This situation was simply preposterous; what with him treating that which should have been a plan among teammates as a two-faced political squabble where every man concealed his motives, it was only the necessity of doing so that kept Tails’s visage impenetrable as it was. “I suggest no other operation, Sally. Rather, I contest this plan because of its stupidity. May I explain?”

“Go on.” Rotor actually leaned forward, keen on hearing Tails out. At least he had one potential supporter.

“Surely Rotor, you can see what is wrong with this idea. If we consider Robotnik’s vast resources, you’ll notice that even if we do manage to destroy a fuel station – a pittance for him, might I add – he will replace everything about it within the week.” He looked around him. “We simply _cannot_ cripple a man as powerful and as resourceful as Robotnik. Continuing this fight is simply pointless. Why would we continue to battle like this when NICOLE herself has determined what we all know inside? No amount of effort, no amount of juice and jam, will win us this fight. What we need is to lie in wait, and wait for an opening. Not,” he stressed, “vice versa.”

“So we just sit around then, and just let him attack us?” Sonic questioned, raising his voice. “Tails, have you lost your mind?”

“Yeah,” Bunnie echoed, “We need to hit ‘im hard, before he hits us!”

Rotor and Antoine kept their mouths closed, looking at Sally for a response.

“Tails.” Sally asked, keeping her voice too even. “Why would you suggest we stop, after all of our efforts?”

Tails sighed, fighting to keep himself from yelling at them. His voice was uncannily mild. “Everyone here, I said wait, not stop. My point is that instead of wasting resources fighting a lost battle, we build our defenses and increase our strength, so that when sufficient time has passed, we are ready to fight and put an end to this. I will tell each and every one of you that that time is not now.”

Antoine spoke for the first time. “ _Qu’est-ce que tu sugg_ _è_ _res_?What eez eet zat we should do, eef we stop?”

“What I’m saying is that we need to build, train, recruit, and innovate. The people in this room constitute the entirety of the Freedom Fighters. We are only seven people, and like it or not, we cannot fight a war, especially against Robotnik, who has who knows how many robots and resources at his beck and call. We can’t even get close enough to him to do any sort of lasting damage. We need to hold our cards close to our chest and make him guess.”

Tails took a breath and introduced his next topic. “We are completely and totally arrogant to believe that Robotnik is targeting us. _Us_! A tiny group of people hiding in a forest like scared little animals. We no longer control Mobotropolis. In fact, it is barely a memory. He is not targeting us. But he still has forces in the area. Why is that?”

He paused. Observing everyone’s reactions. Realizations came to them slowly, but they did. Tails chose to enunciate anyway to emphasize his point. “Robotnik is targeting something else. Something that will do more to the world than simply our demise. Something that is _most likely_ in the Great Forest along with us. However, that leaves a lot of room for error.”

Rotor chimed in. “Are you saying that we take what Robotnik wants?”                                        

“Well, that’s going too fast. We still don’t know what he wants.” Bunnie added.

“Exactly. So, for the time being, until we figure out what it is that he wants, I suggest that we change to an information-gathering stance, not an offensive one like we’ve been doing for the past few years.” Tails crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, satisfied that he had gotten his point through. He eyed Sally for her response.

The squirrel Princess said nothing as the group looked at her for an answer. Finally, she drew a breath and spoke. “We must kill Robotnik, Tails. You forget that we’re running out of time.”

“How much have we truly accomplished since we began this charade? If our efforts are futile then we are wasting time anyway.” Tails argued. “In fact, I can say that ever since the start of this ‘campaign’” He wiggled his fingers in the air for effect, “we’ve been wasting time.”

“Nevertheless,” Sally cut him off, “The motion will not be carried. Our plans are unchanged. Meeting adjourned.” She got up and left the room. Tails did not move.

He was appalled at her idiocy with her decision. Did he not lay out the facts clearly enough? He scowled, before he too rose and stormed out of the meeting room.

When he was outside, Tails wondered about his conversation with Sally in there. He thought that he had made some good points, but in the end Sally chose to use her authority to supersede him. Again, Tails found himself becoming angry at Sally. But, he was confused as well. Not at her, but himself.

Hadn’t he blindly followed her until his first mission as well? What had prompted him to change his thinking so radically? Admittedly he did still collect data on her failures, but it wasn’t until he went out by himself for the first time that he realized the scale of the situation.

As he continued to confuse himself, he sat down by a tree, gazing at the only place he could remember for his entire life: Knothole. It consisted entirely of a few shabby buildings placed here and there; the most high-tech stuff was situated underground in a hill called Freedom HQ. Tails knew that he was protective of this place. He was protective of his friends. At that point he realized that he didn’t want to lose them, especially to their own foolish mistakes. He would prevent that.

“I think it’s time for a change in power here.” Tails treasonously spoke to himself, looking to the darkening skies.

**_November 1, 3238; 1537 hours: Foothills north of Robotropolis._ **

The group used the cover of the rain to their advantage. The squelching their footsteps made in the mud was obscured by the vast cacophony of water hitting the ground. As with the Rannart, trees were sparse in this area, giving way to the tall grasses that remained around Robotropolis.

Life had been extinguished up to twenty miles out in a ring around the former culture center that Mobotropolis once was. The only exception to this was the Great Forest, whose trees began to grow merely a single mile from the walls of that forsaken city. Tails did not know why it happened this way, but it made staging an offense against Robotnik – pitiful as it was – a little easier.

For now he decided he would acquiesce with Sally’s authority. It wasn’t the time or the place to usurp power. His effort had to be subtle. However, Tails’ unique position as a spy and scout helped him immensely in his more underground ambitions. It was a bonus that he had randomly received the PHOENIX handheld from that mysterious character S. The young fox wasn’t sure if “friendly correspondent” could be used accurately for S yet. He had yet to send him or her a reply, but he would get to it soon.

For now, though, he had a mission. The group was stationed around one of the larger outposts that Robotnik commanded. Surprisingly, it was made of brick and mortar as opposed to the usual abundance of metal, but Tails supposed that was due to all of the lightning in the area. It stood tall, and had no windows – robots didn’t need windows – which made Tails’ life all the easier.

Keeping crouched down in the grass, he slinked over to the wall and stopped. Taking a breath, he looked for a point of entry into the building on the wall. Seeing none, he figured that it would be best to enter through the front door.

Now here he was defying orders. He was told by Sally to merely scout the enemy’s numbers and any potential threats with NICOLE, and then get out of there and report to her. He had other intentions with this building, however. He had a feeling that whoever built PHOENIX would have allowed it more sophisticated hacking abilities than NICOLE, considering that he knew of Tails’ position as a spy, and he was here to bank on that. Besides, he had a new toy to test out.

Moving inconspicuously to the front of the building, he observed the constant stream of mechanical warriors entering in and out. The fox sighed and reached into one of the pouches on his belt, producing a small, pistol-shaped device. Holding it to his chest, he took a breath and slowly made his way around the front, using grass to cover himself, and snuck closer to the front door.

As he expected, once the traffic of robots stopped, the doors shut. He lowered his weapon and tiptoed to the door. Beside it, there was a box for manual entry should Robotnik ever need access. Luckily for Tails, who had significant hacking skills himself, the hashing algorithm that the box employed was easily cracked, and he entered the passcode readily, providing himself with access to the facility.

He clung to the wall and peeked inside of the door. The robots didn’t seem to notice that the door had opened, most likely because Robotnik wouldn’t want the bother. Most likely, they were programmed to not bother their lord with stuff that he considered trivial. Tails used this to his advantage.

He sidled along the wall inside, avoiding notice, and hid behind a few crates as the door closed. He paused to take in his surroundings. The room was large, and in it laid several larger robots seemingly capable of flight sitting at rest. Most likely, they were able to be deployed remotely in seconds, a thought which scared Tails a little bit. Those guys looked threatening.

He took in the scope of the full hangar; noting the positions of doors and watching the drones stroll about on some sort of business he wasn’t aware of. Looking around, ducked behind the crates and booted up PHOENIX.

“Scan the facility and calculate a route to the nearest accessible terminal.” Tails whispered.

PHOENIX beeped. “Scanning.”

The little machine did its work and soon brought up a holographic 3D display of the area, a line drawn in red indicating the safest route to the terminal. Tails memorized it.

“Enemy patrol routes are unknown.” PHOENIX disclaimed. “Caution is advised.”

Tails nodded, whispering, “mute.” He stowed the device away on his belt and crawled over the boxes. He eyed the robots as he crowned the crates, before nimbly and silently jumping and pulling himself up onto a ledge. He crawled across the opaque surface, watching for cameras up above. Thankfully, there were none eyeing the catwalks that he had managed to climb atop. Tails crawled his way to a vent, and sliding in it, began to descend to one of the outer rooms.

He came to an open area and quietly lifted the grate from over his destination room. He lowered his head in cautiously, looking for cameras, and withdrew it quickly as a sweeping one almost caught him.

“That was close.” He mumbled. Tails gripped the pistol on his belt and, remembering how the camera was timed, lowered it in when the camera was facing away. He pressed the trigger, and with a satisfying clunk the camera fell to the ground.

He lowered his head in again, looking for robot patrols, and waited a few minutes before dropping in, seeing that there were none. He got a good look of the room he was in. It was built with only the terminal in it, and a chair. Obviously, this room was meant for human use.

Tails grinned and sat comfortably in the chair. He placed PHOENIX on the desk and spoke to it. “Can you interface with this computer?”

PHOENIX responded. “Yes, Tails.”

“Scan over the local systems. Are there any potential exploits?”

PHOENIX sat there scanning for just over a minute. During that time, Tails was slightly nervous that some robot would walk in.

“Scan complete. 3 vulnerabilities found.”

“Alrighty then.” Miles Prower grinned and lay back in his chair. “Take control of this facility.”

**_November 1, 3238; 1556 hours: One half mile east of the outpost._ **

The remaining Freedom Fighters sat among the grasses comfortably, discussing battle plans and tactics while they waited for their forward scout to return. The discussion parted occasionally to other, more trivial things, and overall the group enjoyed a lighthearted atmosphere. Except for Sally. It was as they were speaking that Rotor noticed Sally’s silence, so he nonchalantly took her aside to converse in private.

Rotor began with no ado. “You’re worried about Tails, aren’t you?”

Sally sighed. “Sort of. I am confident that he will do just fine. We trained him well after all. I’m just worried that we trained him a little too well.”

Rotor blinked. “What?” He frowned. “Sally, are you afraid he’s making a play for power after the meeting this morning?”

“I just don’t know what to do with him.” She admitted. “He made good points but he’s forgetting our purpose as Freedom Fighters. We need to strike hard and fast to take Robotnik down. There’s no subterfuge involved.”

Rotor bowed his head. “There are parts where I do agree with him.” The walrus spoke. “But I also accept your point of view. Robotnik is not an enemy to be toyed with and he needs to be brought down as fast as possible. It’s just that…” He cut himself off.

“It’s just what?” Sally queried.

“I fear he may be right. About our ineffectiveness I mean.” Rotor said sadly. “Look, as he said, we’ve been fighting the same battle for years. All of our moves so far have been relying on purely offense and relying on the cover of the Great Forest as our only defense. It’s surprising he hadn’t attacked us yet, so I believe that Tails came to the right conclusion that we are not the targets. However, despite what he said, I don’t think he’s trying to undermine your authority. He’s just… questioning it. He’s using that brain of his and making strategies. If I can make a recommendation, you should be more open to his thoughts. They’re rather astute if I do say so myself.” Rotor commented.

“I suppose you’re right. I’ll try to be more trusting.” Sally acquiesced, nodding. Rotor smiled.

“Well it looks like we got company.”

Sonic emerged through the grasses. “There you are Sal,” He said, “Tails is back.”

“Let’s hear what he has to say then.” Rotor suggested, following Sonic toward the group. Sally stood there for a moment, before sighing and walking with them.

The group convened around a dirt patch as Tails sat down with them. Rotor eyed the fox. He looked rather worse for wear, more so than he should have been for such a simple mission, but otherwise he looked rather comfortable, perhaps even smug.

“So, what did you find then, Tails?” Sonic asked.

“Well,” The fox began. “This should be an easy mission. The facility seems to not have very much guard on it right now. I noticed some larger weapons at the outpost, but they have been deactivated and I suspect they are older models. Mind, what are we going to do with this place, exactly?” He asked Sally.

“We are going to disable it as a refueling station, and cut off any fuel lines that go to it.”

Tails nodded. “We’ll be home for dinner.”

**_November 1, 3238; 1607 hours: The outpost_ **

The group made it to the outpost, and moved close to the wall like Tails told them to. On the way there, Tails discussed with them the things he saw scouting. Of course, he kept the details that didn’t pertain to the mission to himself.

“Alright.” Tails spoke quietly so as to avoid attention. “Let me get the gate. Tons of baddies are behind this door.”

“Alright. Sonic, Bunnie, and Antoine will take care of the SWATbots while Rotor, Tails and I will sabotage the lines.” Sally said.

Tails typed in the passcode that he cracked earlier and stood quietly as the gate opened. “Get ready.”

“On it.” Sonic got into a stance, and then as the gate opened, he ran in to ambush the robots.

Tails himself dashed in after all the others, drawing a pair of rods from his belt as he did so. The robots seemed confused by the sudden attack, but were armed, so they began to fire at the Freedom Fighters. This prompted Sonic to intercept as many as he could by running and smashing them before they could lift their laser pistols.

Tails took a subtler approach, indicating for Sally and Rotor to follow him to where he presumed the fuel lines were. In actuality, once he took control of the facility, he made sure to recognize where everything was located. In doing so, he became able to lead his allies to the incorrect obsolete lines.

After all, it wouldn’t do to sabotage your own weapons, would it?

“Righteo.” Tails hummed. “According to NICOLE, this would be the location of some fuel lines.”

Sally nodded. “Alright. I take it this is the pump?” She asked, indicating to the large cylindrical device in the center of the room, pipes crawling over it like arteries on a heart.

“You guessed right.” Rotor said, his mechanical knowledge coming into play. “Although it looks a little old…”

“I figured the same thing when I came into this base.” Tails lied. He walked up to the pump and tapped it, dust flying around. “I suppose Robotnik isn’t one for renovation or maintenance.”

Rotor looked at the machine. “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it I suppose. Efficient, if it’s not a little bit of a careless mindset.” He pulled a door open on the machine and looked at its insides. “Well, it’s running. Should I stop it?”

“Make it unusable.” Sally ordered. Rotor nodded and put his shears inside, tearing holes in the pipes and rendering them useless, with fuel beginning to leak out.

“Blow it.” Sally commanded.

“What? Do you know what you’re saying?” Rotor turned. Tails looked at her bewildered.

Sally put her hands on her hips. “Make it explode.”

Tails grimaced, hoping desperately that Sally and Rotor didn’t catch what he was about to say. “PHOENIX, cut lines to 2A.”

PHOENIX beeped.

As Rotor lit the fuel, Sally turned to Tails. “What was that?”

Rotor ran. “We don’t have time for that now! Out of here!”

They ran out of the fuel chamber as it ignited, safely behind the safety doors. The trio took a breath of relief as Sally spoke again.

“Tails, what did you say earlier?”

It was time for acting. “Huh? Oh, I said and Robotnik thought he would only have to deal with cut lines.” He looked backward. “Not having his pump blown.”

Rotor grinned. “That’ll take a lot of assets to fix.”

Sonic, Bunnie, and Antoine appeared down the hallway. They looked run ragged, Sonic’s quills were slightly out of place, Antoine’s shirt was torn up in places, and Bunnie was moving considerably slower than normal.

“What happened to you three?” Sally asked.

“No, ze question is, what happened to _you_?” Antoine replied.

“We heard an explosion, y’all alright?” Bunnie queried.

Tails sighed. “We survived. Although it would have been a little easier if Sally told us beforehand she was going to _blow it up_. I think a piece of me just died back there.” He hissed. Sally looked down.

Rotor put his hands up. “You know what, we’re still alive, so that’s in the past now. There’s no use fighting about it.

Tails pursed his lips as the walrus spoke, choosing to say no more. The mission was indeed accomplished, and it wouldn’t do to imply any attachment to the facility, so he merely shrugged. “You’re right. Still, I would have appreciated a little warning. Well, I suppose we should get out of here before Robotnik figures out what happened.”

Sally merely nodded, motioning for the group to exit. “Mission complete, now let’s go back home.”

**_November 1, 3238; 1638 hours: Knothole_ **

Antoine knew this feeling, and hated it. He knew that something big was coming, and he was quite sure that of all of the Freedom Fighters he was the least prepared, even less so than, he hated to admit, Tails, who joined the force fully a week ago.

He was a coward and he knew it. The Antoine everyone was familiar with here did not match with the General d’Coolette of the Acorn Army – his father, who died on the battlefield with glory and honor. No, Antoine was merely a shadow of his father, one who was born not with the potential to match or exceed his father, but rather only to stare at him through the glass ceiling that separated his father from him by leaps and bounds.

He sat down by a tree, taking in the smells for a moment, and resolved for today to forget about the war, if only for an hour, just to relish in the peace that existed here and to pretend that it was the only thing left. The clouds that had covered the sky before had long since cleared up and now the sun bathed the area on soothing light. He closed his eyes and imagined that everything else didn’t exist.

“Antoine, what’re ya doin’ here?” A voice spoke with a familiar twang. He recognized it immediately of course, he and Bunnie had gotten rather close over the past few years.

“Just taking in the… ‘ow do you say it, ze scene?” Antoine tried, not bothering to be accurate.

Bunnie sat beside him, making herself comfortable. “It’s _scenery_ , Sugar-twan.” She leaned back on the trunk, seeing exactly why he had come. “Sure is beautiful though. What made ya come here? ‘Sides the scenery Ah mean.”

Antoine sighed. “Eh… Just wondering about my place ‘eere.”

“Aww.” She cooed, “Yer not sad, are ya? It’s okay.”

“I am a coward.” He said, looking up. “Whenever zere is a fight, I run away. I cannot match zis bravery zat you all ‘ave. Even Tails, who is 9 years my junior…”

“Look, sugar.” She said. “Look here. You have yer place here just as everyone, yer an important part of this group too. Just cuz yer different don’t mean that yer any less important, kay? Yer a special person too, ya just have to look ‘n see it for yerself.”

“I suppose.” He mumbled. “I suspect zat zis war is just getting to my ‘ead.”

“This war’s affecting all of us.” Bunnie commented. “We wish for things ta go back to normal but they don’t, so we gotta make ‘em.”

“Yes, you’re right. It’s just been… certain events that ‘ave been ‘appening.”

“Ya mean with Tails?”

“Yes… no! Euh… ‘ow do I say it? Ze boy is nice, but he’s a little…”

“Y’all are suspicious of him, aren’t ya?”

“‘Ow can I not be?” Antoine asked. “He joins our forces for but a week and suddenly knows everything!”

Bunnie sighed. “Look, he’s just questioning things because he just joined the force. He’ll understand why we do what we do after he works with us for a while. Ah mean, it’s not like Sally didn’t think of what he said. What we’re doin’ is better.”

“Eh… I don’t zink I’m so sure…” Antoine got up and walked away. Bunnie sat down and sighed.

“Where has the trust gone?”

**_November 1, 3238; 2245 hours: Knothole_ **

After pouring himself some tea, the young fox sat again in his chair and leaned back in it, looking over the “Operation Documents.” He thought about the past mission and what it meant for the war. As he wrote down the events as they occurred, came across a certain line that had been scrawled in before.

_…Sally tends to be even more reckless than Sonic, her orders reek of desperation rather than a calm, tactical mind, and she conducts her missions as raids rather than true operations…_

He circled the word reckless and sighed. He sipped his tea. What was he supposed to do about this situation? He flipped through several pages and scanned over each document. There was nothing more he could put together. He was under the power of an ineffective leader whose morals guided her the wrong way, and that seemed to be all.

His eyes shot open and he pulled PHOENIX from his pocket. “PHOENIX, power on.”

The device chimed. “Hello Tails. What do you need?”

“How can I contact S?”

The screen flashed and a black field came up. “I will transcribe your speech to be sent to S.”

“Perfect. Begin recording:”

_S,_

_It is good to contact you. I would be more than willing to enter an agreement for information. First, I must thank you for PHOENIX. It has been invaluable to me for this past week. However, I find myself in a conundrum now, and considering your potentially much vaster information resources, I would like to borrow some advice about how to proceed._

_Today, at approximately 1530 hours, the Freedom Fighters conducted a raid on an outpost controlled by Robotnik. However, what they don’t know is that I used PHOENIX to take control of the base for myself. I have begun to move behind their backs because I believe that the Freedom Fighters have an ineffective leadership, and if I wish to do any real damage to Robotnik and his forces, I will be forced to do so without their help._

_If you could spare some advice about how to proceed, I would be most grateful._

_Yours truly,  
Miles Prower_

Tails nodded, before ordering PHOENIX to send it and then shut down. After that, the young fox finished his tea before going to bed.


	3. Transition's Herald

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a short chapter, but it's the end of the first portion of the story.

_“_ _“Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.”_

_-Sun Tzu_

**_November 6, 3238; 1233 hours: Tails’ Hut_ **

It had taken a long time for Sally to work up the courage to stand where she stood now. The prodigious mind that questioned her – it scared her somewhere deep down. That the boy she raised as one of her own could be capable of such brilliant tactics in war… Well, that light had yet to be seen due to her actions.

She feared his shaded visage, the eyes that bled of maturity, concealing what she thought was hate in their coffers. Only now did she recognize that in the shadows of his soul lurked not malice, but desperation for acknowledgement. She recognized now that all he needed was someone to tell him he did a good job. So that’s what she was here to do.

She gathered her strength – it took all of her willpower to not retreat to her own hut – and rapped on his door, gently, five times. Her usual knock.

The door did not open. She called through the door. “Tails? Are you in there?”

No response. She blinked. Well if he wasn’t here where could he be? She stepped off the porch and sighed, determined to find him now.

It took a while of searching before she found him lying in the meadow of flowers, staring at the bright sky. She frowned, noticing the symbolism of his choice of venue, and approached him.

“Once upon a time we could speak our minds here without fear of repercussions.” Tails began, not moving from his position. “Where has the time gone, Aunt Sally?”

Sally sat beside him, bathing herself in the sun as he was and lay in the flowers. “It’s gone where our innocence has gone. Gone with the peace that filled Mobius before the war.”

Tails didn’t move. “And now we mistrust each other’s intentions, hiding our goals behind closed doors like two-faced politicians. I doubt the effectiveness of us as a team anymore.” He drew a breath, taking in the familiar scent of the flora.

Sally sighed. She closed her eyes. “Tails, I apologize for my actions these past few weeks.”

The young fox didn’t say anything.

“I… I’ve been narrow minded. I’ve let my fear cloud my judgment.”

Tails frowned. “What fear?”

“I’ve been afraid, Tails. You’re suddenly so mature – I was afraid of you. No, I was afraid _for_ you. I couldn’t sleep knowing that I would potentially send you to your death with every raid. I couldn’t…”

“Then why continue? Did what I said the other day not have merit? I proposed something entirely different.” Tails placed his hands behind his head, juxtaposing his stern words with a nonchalant posture. It confused Sally. It was as if he didn’t care either way. His voice softened. “You chose deliberately to attack Robotnik in spite of the reasoning I offered. You chose vehemently to go directly _opposite_ my idea. It’s not me you fear for Aunt Sally.”

He smiled.

“You fear for your power.”

Her eyes widened. “How dare you accuse me of that?! I’ve been doing everything in my-” She trailed off. Tails picked up the loose end.

“Your power? Aunt Sally, while you are the rightful leader and heir to the Crown of Acorn, such a title is irrelevant now in this struggle. Your kingdom doesn’t exist anymore, all of its denizens scattered to who knows where. My point is, there is no place for hierarchy among us, not anymore. We are not united under Acorn’s banner anymore; we are united by our cause.”

“So what? You want me to step down as leader?”

“Nope.” Tails stood up. “I want you to step up.” He began to walk away, and then stopped, hesitatingly. “I do have something else to say though.”

“What is it?” Sally asked, sitting up.

Tails opened his mouth, and then closed it. He had meant to tell her everything – all about his plans, about the subterfuge. About how his mistrust in her had gone on far longer than she realized. But he didn’t. He laughed at himself.

 _I’m such a hypocrite._ He grinned wryly at himself. “I don’t suppose you’ve looked at those files yet? You know, those from my first mission?”

Sally seemed to swallow a lump in her throat. “No… I haven’t.”

“You might want to get on that.” Tails walked away.

**_November 6, 3238; 1326 hours: Rotor’s Workshop_ **

Tails entered the workshop quietly, startling Rotor who was leaned over into the engine of one of the larger robots they managed to capture. Tails admired Rotor for his mechanical genius. It was something that he couldn’t replicate fully, so oftentimes the young fox came to Rotor for advice and parts.

“Rotor.” Tails greeted. “How’s the project?”

Rotor removed his head from the machine, scratching his nose and lifting his goggles. “Oh, it’s going well. This bad boy here was once a SWATbot land drone that got lost I guess. Now, we may just have a ride back and forth from Robotropolis. And look at that engine!”

Tails leaned over to peek in the hood and whistled appreciatively. “How fast does it go? Even something this big is gonna haul with this beast.”

“Fast enough.” Rotor grinned. “None of the twelfth brigade can catch us in this thing. Now Sonic’s not the only one who has speed on his side.”

Tails nodded. “That’ll definitely be useful on the field.” He looked up. “I think I’ve finally gotten my case through to Aunt Sally.”

Rotor turned. “You did?”

“Yup. Well, she didn’t say it explicitly, but she caught me this morning and we talked about it. I think it went pretty well. That plus the improvements you’ve been making to our technological situation should tell her that we can take a break from raiding Robotnik.”

Rotor crossed his arms. “You know, there’s something I never could wrap my mind around. Why do you want to take a break from raiding Robotropolis so bad? You explained it all fairly well with reasoning, but I think this issue hits you on a more personal level.”

A fly buzzed around the room, and flew outside through the open door. Rotor’s and Tails’ eyes followed it as it flew.

Tails sighed, recounting his feelings previously. “You know what? I’m not sure. But there’s a piece of me that’s been screaming since that first mission. For the longest time, I felt like we were that fly there to Robotnik. Except we’re not the fly that goes away through the open door. We’re that annoying kind of fly that doesn’t leave. One day he’ll just swat us and be done with it.”

Rotor frowned. “I got that part. So that’s it then, you fear for our safety?”

“What can a fly do to you, Rotor? Nothing. We need to become something more than that. We need to become a threat. That’s why I’m so excited by your new gizmo here.” Tails nodded toward the vehicle. “You know what kind of firepower we could mount on here?”

Rotor sighed. “As stupid as I’ll sound saying this, we can’t use any sort of firearms. Sally says time and again not to sink to his level.”

Tails frowned and was silent for a few seconds, pondering his reply. “Rotor. Ugh, this is why our offense is so ineffective. No weaponry of any kind, right” He sighed. “This is laughable now.” He wandered over to the pile of parts, and picked up a severed SWATbot arm laser. He tossed a SWATbot chest plate onto the floor and shot it, looking at the newly formed hole. “This is the kind of power you’ve been refusing.”

“It’s not about power Tails.” Rotor chastised.

“Oh it most certainly is.” Tails argued back. “When it comes to winning a war the only factors are power, opportunity, and diplomacy. We no longer have a useful opportunity, and diplomacy was never there to start so what do we have left? Power. We need it, Rotor, and lots of it.”

“I don’t approve of this, Tails. You sound… power hungry? You’re getting a little violent.”

“Peace doesn’t win wars with men who don’t reason!” Tails almost yelled. He then sighed and replaced the gun in the scrap pile. Turning from Rotor’s worried gaze he frowned. “I don’t suppose I can steal some parts?”

“As long as you’re not making a weapon.” Rotor replied as he watched Tails dig through the scrap pile.

Tails emerged from the pile with a SWATbot head, and various display parts. “No, I’m just making something that will make us more useful.”

**_November 6, 3238; 1326 hours: Sally’s hut_ **

Antoine knocked on the door three times, in straight succession. The topic had been bubbling in his mind now, and he felt like he should give his two cents before the Freedom Fighters convened in a few hours to discuss tactics. When Antoine realized the door was unlocked, he opened it and walked in.

“I’m coming in.” He announced as he rounded the corner into Sally’s workspace. Startled, she shut NICOLE off quickly and turned her chair to face her visitor.

“Oh! Antoine, you scared me, what do you need?”

“My apologies for scaring you, my princess. I simply wished to be speaking of… Tails.” He spoke the last word with a hint of venom.

Sally clasped her arms. “What about Tails?”

“He is acting a tad… ‘ow do you say it? _Soupçonneux…_ eh, suspicious! Zat’s ze word.”

“Hm… well, I’ve been a little wrong about him lately.  He is…”

“He does not know what he is doing!” Antoine roared.

Sally stepped backward. “What? What are you saying Antoine?”

“Are you not seeing? He is sneaking around right under ze nose!”

Sally sighed. “Antoine, I just had a word with him this morning. He’s just… finding his place.”

“Finding his place?” Antoine scoffed. “But he is just ze little boy.”

“Not anymore he’s not.” Sally sighed. “I’m afraid we’ve turned him into something more than that.” She turned back to NICOLE, currently shut off. “He’s was born into this war. He’s seen every second of it. What we think we’ve kept from him, he knows. Antoine, he knows!” She turned to him, her eyes tearing. “I’ve failed to keep him safe.”

Antoine’s gaze diverted, shamefully. “I did not mean to presume.”

“And he’s frustrated with us all.” Sally continued. “He’s frustrated because there’s a path ahead of us we could take. But I said no to him because it’s bloody and violent. But what I fail to realize is that blood and violence doesn’t disturb him because that’s all he’s seen his whole life.”

Antoine frowned, motionless. “I see.” He said, and then left the room.

**_November 6, 3238; 1419 hours:_ **

S had sent his reply swiftly. Tails recalled it well.

_Miles,_

_Your situation is interesting. I agree with you on the matter that you would be better off independent of the Freedom Fighters. I am aware that Robotnik is unfazed by their efforts, and that to some, their struggle seems like a joke. More resources and power will be needed to overthrow Robotnik, power and resources which the Freedom Fighters neither want nor possess._

_As I mentioned in my last message, it is important for you to make allies. I would use this time to find and recruit more people who may have the resources you need to pursue your efforts._

_As such, I recommend you leave the Freedom Fighters for now, and make your abode in the outpost that you captured. I can inform you from a good source that Robotnik will not be seeking to reacquire such a petty resource. Use this to your advantage._

_Good luck in your future endeavors,  
S_

It was later in the day when he left. The sun was still high in the sky, and honestly, if the place had anyone keeping watch it would be a simple matter for them to catch him. But no one was watching, and so he slipped out unnoticed.

He had received communications from S earlier, advising him to leave. It took a lot out of him to do so – he had lived here for as long as he could remember – but the fact remained that these people knew nothing of the art of war. So, if he was not leaving, he at least was taking a temporary hiatus.

But the world beyond knew better than that. To it he was leaving for good. Because once he left, and Tails knew this in his heart too, they would not accept him back. To them, this would be grave betrayal. Maybe Sally had a small understanding, but nothing else. They did not know the enormity of the situation that lay outside their verdant walls.

The road was still slick and muddy from the rain last night. The moon had been obscured, completely covered by obsidian clouds as rain poured onto the roof of his hut.

S would need to know of his transition. He would tell him later on, when he arrived at his destination. The outpost that he had secretly captured earlier would certainly suffice as a base of operations.

He took one last look at the home he left behind and turned forward, hoisting his rucksack over his back. His campaign against Robotnik began now.

**_November 7, 3238; 0942 hours: Knothole_ **

“Tails? You in there buddy?” Sonic rapped on the wooden door. “Hello?” He stood back from the doorstep, scratching the top of his head. Where could he be? He had checked all around Knothole. Maybe he should ask Sally.

“Looking for Tails?” He heard a voice turning to see Rotor. The purple walrus walked up to Sonic and greeted him. They both looked at the hut. “No one’s seen him for a while now. I’ve been told to unlock the door.”

Sonic frowned. Sally had been getting suspicious of him lately, but he figured that at some point they’d reconcile. But here she was, asking Rotor to break his door down. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, big guy, you sure you want to do that? We should keep out of Tails’s business.” Sonic pleaded.

Rotor shook his head. He held the master keys to the Freedom Fighters’ living spaces in his hand. “Frankly, Sonic, I’m curious too. You may not be aware, but he is slowly growing more and more power hungry. It might be the war having an effect on him, but for now, we don’t know. That’s what I’m here to figure out.” He inserted the key into the locked door handle, feeling the tumblers spin. “You know, Sonic, he’s been practicing things behind our backs. He demonstrated superb accuracy with a scrapped SWATbot pistol yesterday. I certainly don’t remember teaching him how to fire a gun.”

“Maybe he’s right.” Sonic reasoned. “Maybe we need this stuff – these guns and weapons.”

“That’s not my decision to make, Sonic.” Rotor replied. Inwardly, Sonic knew that too. It was up to Sally to decide the fate of the Freedom Fighters. The door swung open.

Inside of the hut was a modest and clean living space, the bookshelf filled to the brim with relics acquired from various raids in and out of what used to be Mobotropolis. Rotor frowned. Everything seemed it was here, but looking about him, nothing in the hut was especially important. There was nothing on or in the young fox’s desk and nothing especially relevant could be discovered anywhere in the room. The part that Tails borrowed from Rotor was nowhere to be found.

Rotor sighed. “It’s true then. Sally was right.”

“Right about what?” Sonic asked, dreading the answer.

“We’ve spooked him.” Rotor slammed his fist on the desk, seething. “He's gone! Tails ran away.”


	4. Beyond the Grey

_“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”  
_ -Sun Tzu

**Chapter 4 – Beyond the Grey**

**_November 12, 3238; 2335 hours: Unknown location…_ **

Silver machines and bright lights that reflected off them blinked in the well-lit room. Whirring and buzzing was softly heard from the peripheral surroundings, an artificial ambience that Robotnik was by now used to.

His full name used to be Dr.JulianKintobor. He had changed it to IvoRobotnik. Now, many people simply knew him as the Eggman.

How could such a comical name be sinister at the same time? It was unexplainable. The bright, cheesy imagery that the name Eggman brought, as if out of a children’s book, reflected his inner self in a mad, twisted way. He hated the moniker at first, but after a while, he had grown used to its presence. Then he embraced it. Then he started naming all of his machines after it. All as a madman such as himself should.

The light glinted off of his glasses as he worked. He hadn’t done something this hands-on in a while; normally he depended on automated programs to get these sorts of projects done, but with this particular case he had grown attached, and as such, couldn’t let it be botched up.

After all, he admitted, despite the glaring fact that he was perfection; it was a sad truth that what he built wouldn’t necessarily be the same way.

His ginger mustache flicked upward, as if in amusement, at that line. The Egg Drones beside him cleared off as they noticed so, astutely their optical inputs decided that their master was in one of his moods, and unless called upon, would certainly _not_ bother him.

“Snively!” He bellowed, summoning his nephew to approach him. Unlike the large man before him, Snively was tiny. He was thin, frail, and balding. In fact, the only part of him that could be considered large was his nose. And as large as it was, it often found itself in the way.

Robotnik scoffed as the small man approached. Unlike his nephew, the Eggman stood at a large height, and he sported a decidedly large circumference to go with it. Rather than having the other’s few remaining hairs, Robotnik’s head gleamed as a polished cue ball would under the intense scrutiny of the lights above. He sported an ostentatious white cape, making his frame look even larger as it billowed about whenever he walked. Snively, of course, wore a standard if somewhat subdued green uniform, which did not help in matters of comparison between his and his master’s size. He became the background behind Robotnik, detracting no attention from the main event.

Unlike most nephews, Snively did not like his uncle. In fact, the little man detested his uncle. But at the same time, he had a healthy fear of his uncle’s wrath, which was quite hellish indeed. Whenever he interacted with his uncle, he would put a façade over himself and act entirely subservient. The fear he displayed was genuine, but not the loyalty. But Snively was smart and realistic; he wondered if his mask truly blocked his master’s sight of his genuine visage. Perhaps it was that he didn’t care – as long as Snively served, there would be no problem. After all, at this point, there was nothing that the poor younger man could do.

Robotnik had once been different, Snively recalled, years ago. What was it that drove the good doctor to madness? He remembered his uncle being sinister of course; such was perpetual, but he had also been somewhat goofy and humorous. And he also was wise. Snively could remember the tokens of wisdom his uncle would drop when he had just begun to serve him. “Don’t forget,” he had told Snively one time, “No matter what happens – no matter how many SWATbots the rodent destroys or how many plans he crushes, the sun will always come up tomorrow morning.”

Snively had taken that advice to heart. But what he knew that his uncle didn’t was that the sun wasn’t the only thing that watched over the denizens of the earth as days passed. Whenever the sun retired, the moon took its place in order to watch, and the stars accompanied it. The sun never watched the moon or the stars, Snively knew that. To the sun, those made the background piece, giving off light only as the sun left the picture. Snively attuned himself with the stars this way, they were the many eyes that watched the sun itself, but did nothing but recede.

“Snively. Look at this beauty.” The much larger man motionlessly indicated the glass cylinder in front of him, filled to the brim with a green liquid; no doubt filled with amino acids and nutritious polysaccharides that the form inside devoured greedily. The form inside was an amorphous blob, continuously squishing and reshaping, its reflective silver coating occasionally redirecting bright light from the ceiling at Snively’s eyes.

“W-what is it, sir?” Snively asked half curious and half dreading the answer. As with all of the Eggman’s inventions, some of them were comical and childish (Which seemed frightening for a man of Robotnik’s persona) while at other times they were gruesome and macabre. Sometimes they exhibited both sets of traits, as the Eggman would have it.

Robotnik’s glasses glinted mischievously, his mustache again twitching as he seemed to take a perverse pleasure from his assistant’s sudden fear. He waited for a moment to let his good nephew wallow in his fear, before graciously supplying him with the answer. “SolInvictovirus.” He said. His lip quirked. “An embodiment of the unconquerable sun.”

**_November 13, 3238; 1205 hours: The Captured Outpost_ **

Adjusting to the system had taken time, but he managed. The base was cold, obviously it was not meant to be inviting to guests of any kind, as Robotnik didn’t ever have guests, but it would do for him.

The robots that staffed the base were all under his jurisdiction, but necessity dictated that they still carry out Robotnik’s directives. It would be too simple to figure out that a base had been compromised if the forces that occupied it started disobeying orders, so while the Eggman still used the base, he would have to be subtle about his actions.

Tails looked at his blueprint one more time before observing his finished product. As there was a large amount of scrap at the base, it was a trivial task to create something new from old parts. The display plate that he borrowed from Rotor, which he later learned was standard issue with only the most latest and most advanced generation of SWATbots, fit its function well as Tails had hoped. He picked up the object and looked at it thoroughly before placing it on his head.

“PHOENIX, sync with incoming wireless signal.” Tails intoned. “Run newly installed T-Glass drivers.”

It had taken a week for him to get the T-Glass firmware just right after he constructed the thing, but after loading all of the necessary firmware onto the device and programming PHOENIX with some robust drivers to operate the device, the Heads-Up Display project that he had been working on seemed to be a success. The data that could be harvested from here on Robotnik’s engineering techniques was invaluable, expediting the time that it would have taken to complete this project exponentially. It was also a valuable learning resource – Tails could confidently say that he had learned almost as much as he learned his entire life in Knothole just after one week here. Dedication and hard work paid off in the long run, and although the documentation and blueprinting was a bit dry, it was filled to the brim with valuable information. In fact, he was beginning to have inklings of something else to build, but that was for later. He admired his creation.

It was a transparent panel of glass cut from Rotor’s display plate to comfortably fit on his nose that carried a slight hue of green. He noticed immediately status reports and details from PHOENIX appearing along the edges, informing him of the devices activities without the need for the thing to vocalize. It was a perfect tool to use for any scenario. He grinned when the words “Installation Successful” appeared on the HUD.

Tails still had a few features to test, giddily ordering the device, “Scan and display floor plan of current building.” After barely three seconds PHOENIX had scanned the premises, displaying a fully accurate 3d model of the room. It spun around slowly, showing the full perspective of the building. “Perfect.” He grinned.

That was enough of that; he had things to do, and now he was free to do whatever he wanted without people caring. He was starting to like this life already.

Now that the last step in preparation was done, it was time to begin his expedition.

**_November 13, 3238; 1217 hours: Rotor’s Workshop_ **

Rotor wiped the sweat off his brow, looking at his handiwork. The monster machine stood in front of him, ready to go. It stood eight feet in height and twenty in length, its outside painted with a natural green camouflage. Finally, he could say that the Freedom Tank was complete.

Well, the Freedom Tank was an awful name, but naming things was never really Rotor’s cup of tea.

Rotor eyed it further. He wasn’t sure about Sally’s stance on artillery, but he himself was a supporter. Ever since Tails’s… departure, he had been a little more supportive of the young fox’s position that he left behind. Even if he had up and deserted them, Rotor had a nagging feeling that somehow he was right.

The door opened, and Sally entered the room, just in time for Rotor to exhibit his new project to her. He turned to her and greeted her with a smile. “Hey Sally, how’s it going?”

She shrugged, turning to face the Freedom Tank. Rotor could tell by her mood that she was still despondent over Tails’s absence. Unlike the other Freedom Fighters, she hadn’t even begun to reconcile with her fears. Rotor was well aware of the progress she made in helping Tails – or, heaven forbid, the progress that she _thought_ she made – and the fact that he suddenly left tore her apart.

“Do you… want to see how it works?” Rotor tentatively asked, careful not to trip any sort of fuse with Sally’s mood.

She nodded. “That’s what I’m here for, right?” The walrus could tell that her heart wasn’t in it, but he made no comment, and beckoned her to the passenger-side door. He hopped in the driver side after she entered the vehicle, and he pressed the ignition. The large garage door that formed a wall of his workshop opened at the press of a button, and Rotor could feel the hum of the engine in his grip as he handled the configuration lever.

He began to speak, hoping to distract Sally from recent events. “The Freedom Tank is the best thing I’ve built in a while.” He introduced, pressing the gas to accelerate it out. The engine roared as it accelerated – a testament to its massive power – and the tank rolled out of the garage. Rotor moved the configuration lever to the left and yanked the clutch handle, the transmission ambling into second gear without so much as a bump. “This thing’s got massive power, and it’ll take us to Robotropolis and beyond faster than you can blink. Sonic’s not the only one who can go fast now.” He grinned, looking over at Sally. She nodded mutely, still depressed, and the walrus’s brow creased. He sighed, figuring it was best to be direct. “Sally, it’s not your fault that Tails left.”

She flinched, not saying anything. The snap of the clutch handle as the engine transitioned did not break the tension that filled the cabin. He drove about for a few more minutes, letting her think about his words. She spoke. “He’s right, he has to be…” She said, trailing off. It took a few seconds for her to find her voice again. “But he can’t be right. It’s too... It’s too much…”

Rotor frowned, concerned. “Sally, he’s lived his whole life at the wrong end of a gun. Even if we didn’t bring him along on missions, raids, or what have you, he still lived in fear of Robotnik. I’m afraid to say that to him, we’re doing nothing to advance our cause, and now he’s grown desperate so as to prevent Robotnik’s eventual victory.”

Sally looked down. “But to use weapons of lethal force? To murder? Is that truly okay?” She shook her head. “There still must be a way to resolve this. There has to be.”

“Mobotropolis fell eight years ago when Robotnik overthrew the King.” Rotor recalled. “I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for you at the time. Sally, you seek a peaceful way to resolve this because you’re afraid of violence. Ever since you saw him go…” He paused, realizing he was encroaching on sensitive territory as a tear fell down the princess’s cheek.

“I don’t mind,” She said, snubbing her reaction.

Rotor took in a breath, and then continued. “Ever since you saw your father murdered in front of you… That was the turning point, right? That was when you decided to forbid all things like that, all proper violence.” She nodded, but Rotor did not continue for a moment, looking for the right words. “Tails thinks otherwise. You acknowledged to Antoine that Tails wants a violent end because that’s all he’s seen his whole life – yes Antoine told me about that conversation, but that’s not the point. I think there’s a little more to it though.”

The vehicle hit a bump, rocking the cabin a little bit. “Tails is equally as traumatized as you are. He doesn’t remember much about his past, other than knowing that he woke up one day and his parents were gone. He didn’t even find out whether or not they were killed, they just vanished.” Rotor sighed. “He refrains from mentioning this to many people, but he confided in me a few years ago, told me to keep it a secret. He thinks they’ve long since been roboticized, and now he’s given up on them.”

Sally put a hand on her mouth. “But I’ve always told him that maybe…!”

Rotor smirked wistfully. “Tails doesn’t believe in hope. He’s lived his life in war, and can’t remember any of the truly happy moments that life can give you. His existence so far has been to aid in the effort to beat Robotnik – nothing else. And if he has to murder him in cold blood, well, he won’t hesitate. He won’t even blink.”

Sally shook her head. “No…”

Rotor nodded. “That is what we’ve raised, Sally. You forbade lethal weapons, but the irony of it all that none of us even knew is that we’ve been raising the most lethal of them all. I fear that as long as Robotnik is alive, Tails will not stop hunting him down. Which means as long as Tails is alive, Robotnik’s life is on the line.” He looked at Sally. “How do you think this situation will develop?”

“We’ve doomed him…” She said, her face blank. “We’ve killed him ourselves.”

Rotor stopped the vehicle in the garage. The clutch handle came down with a snap, and Sally blinked, realizing that his demonstration was over. Rotor turned off the engine. “The question is who have we killed? For now, we must support Tails in the war effort, given it’s either him or Robotnik. We must begin giving our all to ensure victory. Sally, allow me to begin going over the artillery capabilities of the Freedom Tank.”

**_November 14, 3238; 0922 hours: North of the Captured Outpost_ **

From the data he had gathered at the captured outpost – Base 1 as he was beginning to refer to it – he began to gather the pieces of Robotnik’s plans. It was this that gave him the confidence to keep going, and it was this that had him move to the north, in order to capture another base.

Sensibly, Robotnik was security conscious. He kept data on all of his plans in case something went astray, but he never kept it in easy reach. However, there were some hints from the data that Tails could retrieve that information on a vital component of Robotnik’s plans was kept somewhere in a small base on the southern slopes of the Tundis Mountains. Unlike the Rannart, which still had roads and highways used back when the scene was pure, the Tundis Mountains were devoid of such development – it would be a cross-country hike all the way across the foothills in order to move from Base 1 to the Tundis location. A cross-country hike all the way up there – when the winter was beginning to creep into the trees, and ice began to fill the lungs of those who trespassed – would mean certain death to the unprepared.

However, Tails strove to be anything but unprepared. He knew the dangers of the northern climate, but he also knew one of the easiest ways to counteract that danger, and with all of the tools he needed at his disposal, it would be a cinch.

Locating an old SWATbot land transporter in his base, it took him only an afternoon to repurpose the thing to transport a living being, and it was an easy matter to alter the suspension to handle the rugged terrain. In fact, the hardest part about it was locating a set of good tires that he could use to scale the slopes of the Tundis.

This brought him to the present situation, huddled inside of the armored transport while steering it remotely through PHOENIX. Technology was truly a wonderful thing sometimes, as he controlled the vehicle with his handheld while receiving a full visual feed through the T-Glass, he mentally pat himself on the back for his effort.

He spent the last night after his triumph with the T-Glass memorizing the patrol routes around the Tundis location. As he was now deep in territory controlled by Robotnik, he needed to be cautious, and he also needed to be ready to put up a fight. It would be likely, with such sensitive information stored where it was, that Robotnik would have much higher security over this base than the quaint little outpost that he had captured, as such, Tails came prepared.

Strapped to his waist were two laser pistols, PHOENIX’s holster, hand grenades, a laser dagger, a small lock picking kit, and a grappling hook. Strapped to his back was an assault rifle loaded with armor-piercing shells for anything that packed light-deflection array-type armor, and spare rounds if he had to use the rifle more than he expected to.

He was unable to conceal his identity, as he foolishly only brought the clothes on his back, so his scarf would make due for the coldness. He didn’t even bother to hide his two fluffy tails, which had grown thick with the season. It would have to do, though, because Tails’s visual feeds informed him that he had arrived at his planned location.

He sighed, steeling himself for the upcoming battle. He hoped that he would be able to get in unnoticed, but considering the expected security levels, he doubted that he would be able to fulfill such hopes. He scooted out of the vehicle as the back door opened, leaving him exposed in the wasteland three miles away from the target. Here he would begin his trek.

Tails flinched at the clanking noises that emerged from the vehicle, but his fluttering heart stopped as he noticed his troops exit the vehicle with him. They were repurposed SWATbots, their brains switched out for ones that Tails spot checked to ensure they had no fealty to Robotnik and only to him. They were your standard, run-of-the-mill SWATbots, but they were equipped with some of the best gear he could find lying around the base. Having allies on this mission would increase the chances of success drastically.

The transport closed up, and Tails directed the two bots to follow him with a hand gesture. They stayed low, moving quickly west to a small patch of trees where they would stealthily approach. The winter was settling in – Tails could see the breath escape from his lips. He was lucky his fur was rather thick, or he would probably be going back to his base with frostbite.

The area around the base was thick with pine trees; it was probably placed where it was to take advantage of the natural stealth bonuses. However, it wasn’t a particularly defensible location. Any attackers like Tails himself could use the surroundings to hide and slowly get closer to the base. In this mission, the trees were Tails’s biggest advantage.

He made it to the wall, where he and the bots sidled, listening to the activity within. “PHOENIX,” he whispered. “Scan surroundings.” He was pleased when a moment later, a full 3d view of the outer grounds appeared on his T-Glass display. As it was mission critical information, the 3d model was also forwarded to the repurposed SWATbots, so that they would be able to act independently and do their part of the mission. He grinned, as he analyzed the map, forming plans and making calculations.

His SWATbot allies would be decoys. Once an infantry patrol arrived back, he would have them blend with them and infiltrate the encampment. In the center of the grounds, they would then attack randomly, creating as big of a scene as they could to buy Tails time to enter through the back, where he would crawl through the air ducts and go down the cargo elevator’s chute to the adjacent data center where he would find his objective.

As a secondary objective, he would also capture this base, as it contained large amounts of materials and blueprints, which would be useful to him in the future. If he could not capture it, he would sabotage it, after mining all of the data he could, and then he would get out of there.

However, as he further scanned the facilities, he noticed that there was a small airstrip located in the base, which meant that he could use this base as a main operations center, and he could gain access to flying vehicles, which was another thing tacked onto his bucket list.

It would truly be a shame if he had to destroy this base – it seemed too valuable to simply get rid of.

After forming an entry plan, with more hand gestures, he directed his SWATbots to work while he himself went the other way. He would shimmy up the wall by an air duct and squeeze in – if he couldn’t fit some of his ammunition, then too bad – and crawl through, but only once he heard the telltale signs of a commotion go on.

The snow crunched softly under his boots as he moved carefully around. The cold weather was getting to him, and he hoped that he would be able to infiltrate soon. However, his pragmatic mind reminded him of the stakes of this mission. The stakes of every mission, actually.

And to think, this lesson was impressed on him by Sally herself. Frowning, he tried not to think of her, lest he rouse his latent feelings of guilt again. Since he left Knothole a week ago, his heart ached more and more with each passing night. However, he also grew skilled at quashing those feelings, but not so skilled as to prevent them from resurging every now and then. He repressed the urge to sigh. A single tear flowed from his eye in reflection of the cruelty of his world.

Maybe his desertion of the Freedom Fighters wasn’t the right thing to do, but right now, in the moment, there was nothing he could do to change his situation. He would just have to roll with it.

Impatient, he brought up one of the visual feeds of his troops. The feed was carried over a shortwave signal, with an encryption type that was mathematically impossible to decode without a key. Tails would know, as he spent a week’s nights trying to prove that it could be decoded without success. Tails would be remiss to give Robotnik an opportunity to hack the personal network created between PHOENIX and the two SWATbots. In fact, he would be remiss to give Robotnik any indication that PHOENIX existed at all.

He noted that this particular SWATbot troop had blended in successfully with the others, and they were approaching the designated point in which they would begin to attack. Indeed, the small corridor they were in opened up to a large stretch of land as they entered the airfield. It was in this moment that they would begin the plan. He cut off the visual feed as the noises started.

Biting his tongue, he carefully aimed and fired his grappling hook onto a roof panel above the air duct he would be entering in. He climbed up in front of the panel and used his laser dagger to remove it. Shimmying in, he noticed that he and all of his ammunition fit in the duct, albeit barely. He brought up a map of the air duct ways and overlaid it over the acquired floor plan as he crawled through. Once he made it over the primary data center, he removed the air panel and scanned the place for any cameras. Again, it wouldn’t do for him to be caught this far in the operation.

He dropped down, perplexed at the lack of overt security features. It wasn’t like Robotnik to not have cameras if his last base was any indication. How could Robotnik be so confident when Tails had just snuck in through an air duct in a textbook entry?

Shrugging, Tails quietly stepped toward the data center, his eyes scanning the myriad servers and disks. Somewhere in this room there was a controller that PHOENIX could interface with and he could slowly suck this place dry. He stepped through the room, his laser pistol in hand.

He walked amongst the server racks, but found no terminal. Initially, he was confused, but eventually, he found the terminal cramped up in the corner of the room. He strode toward it, and placed PHOENIX on the desk, fumbling with the cables linking with the main machine. He attached his device and began the extraction. Then he felt a gun to the back of his neck.

“Miles Prower, also known as Tails.” A robotic voice intoned. “You are required to follow me as ordered by Lord Robotnik.”

“Oh.” Tails drawled. He surreptitiously scooted PHOENIX beside the monitor before turning around. “I wasn’t aware I would get a welcome party. So where to?”

“Sarcasm earns you no credit from a robot.” The robot drawled. It faced away from him, but Tails knew that it kept an optical sensor on him at all times. Shrugging, Tails strolled after him. A façade of bravado, he knew, was a good way to keep one’s nervousness at check. He would just have to trust that PHOENIX would be done downloading the data to his vehicle before he wiped it and initiated the virus.

The robot led him through a few corridors before indicating to a room. “Enter.”

“You could be a little more polite about it.” Tails frowned but he acquiesced, opening the door and sauntering into the room. He took a step back when he noticed the lavish decorations and the table, laid out with freshly prepared food. At the end of the table, on a large, rather throne-like chair, sat Dr. Ivo Robotnik, leaning back with his feet on the table.

“Ah, Tails. It’s good of you to join me for dinner.” He grinned, showing pearly white teeth. “Take a seat, dig in.”

Bewildered, the young fox looked around him on both sides before sitting in a chair at the opposite end of the overly-long table, equally as throne like as Robotnik’s, as if the madman considered him his equal. Robotnik indicated with his arms, and Tails cautiously bit into the steak that was on his plate. It tasted surprisingly good, but he couldn’t help but speak to Robotnik, who hadn’t touched his food.

“I suppose you were expecting me?” He began. Robotnik’s steady grin widened, before he leaned on the table.

“You could say that.” Robotnik stated. He took a sip of his drink, an aged red wine that citizens of Mobotropolis likely enjoyed before their downfall. “I always keep a steady eye on people who interest me, and you, Tails, have earned my interest. It took me a while to notice that you have actually captured my east Rannart location.”

Tails sipped his drink, noticing that it burned like alcohol down his throat. Apparently underage drinking laws didn’t exist in Robotnik’s dominion. Did Robotnik intend for him to get drunk and give out the location of Knothole? Somehow, that didn’t sound quite right. Nonetheless, he answered Robotnik’s implied question. _How did you capture one of my bases without me noticing?_

“Perhaps, Robotnik, it was a simple oversight on your part. I did intend to have the base superficially run as you expected, so the fact that you knew in the first place surprises me.” He countered. Robotnik grinned.

“Indeed. However, to evade my notice even for three days, your intellectual prowess is to be commended.” Robotnik noted, eating a chunk of meat. They ate in silence for a minute or two before Robotnik spoke again. “So why did you abandon Knothole?”

Tails flinched. He ate a piece of steak, chewing it for a long time not to savor the taste, but to think of a reasonable answer. Even he didn’t know completely – all he knew was that he left on a whim, as recommended by S, a man or woman he didn’t even know.

Was it even the right decision? He could see the frown appear on Robotnik’s face at the time he was taking to answer.

“Difficulties.” Tails spoke, swallowing his meat. “Communicative difficulties between me and the rest of the Freedom Fighters. We had a difference in opinion. For now, I would prefer to not associate with them.”

Robotnik nodded, interlocking his fingers. “I see. You have thus cut all communications with the Freedom Fighters and have separated yourself from them, becoming a third party. An interesting turn of events indeed. I was led to believe that they were raising you to become their blindly obedient lapdog.”

Tails’s eye twitched. “I disapproved of Sally’s leadership.”

“So you disapproved of her methodology… or her goal? Do you still carry the same objective, to depose of me?”

This was the critical question. It was here and now that Robotnik was evaluating Tails’s threat level. His answer would prove critical to his continued existence in his body of flesh and blood, and a functioning will of his own. Tails opened his mouth, but did not phrase his first thought until a moment had passed, constructing his words carefully.

“I… do not know what my goal is. To most Mobians, the acts you have committed in your rise to power are nothing but the worst atrocities.” Tails’s gaze went up from his food to Robotnik’s eyes. The man took a sip from his wine glass, but Tails knew that behind the reflective spectacles Robotnik’s eyes were boring into his very soul. “However, I am not most Mobians. I am not simple-minded, staying in the present. I choose, like other rare people, to gaze into the future, and evaluate morality in that respect.”

“What do you see in the future?” Robotnik asked, adjusting his glasses.

“I cannot tell what’s in the future, hence why I do not know what my goal is. I do not know all of the facts that are here in the present, so I cannot judge what is to come. I’m sure you’re aware that, like any life form, I wish to ensure my own survival. I’m aware of how Sally and the Freedom Fighters intend to ensure their own survival, however… Robotnik, I’m not sure what your motives are, entirely.”

The bald man leaned back in his chair, quirking an eyebrow in amusement. “Oh, so now you’re asking me questions?” Tails gazed intently at him. “Hm… well, I suppose I can indulge you.” He crossed his arms. “I, too, wish to ensure my own survival. However, dropping my arms and surrendering… at this point that sounds like a death sentence, would you agree?”

Tails was silent. Seeing no response, Robotnik continued.

“You are so young, Tails, the world is much vaster than you think. There is more to the world than the Great Forest, than Mobotropolis, and even there are things past the Tundis Mountains.” Robotnik grinned. “There are forces out there capable of things you wouldn’t even imagine. You would never sleep if I told you.” He clasped his hands. “Thus, I am looking for an item to solidify my reign. It is one of seven. I don’t suppose you’ve heard the term ‘Chaos Emerald.’”

Tails frowned. “I can’t say I have. I don’t suppose you could tell me why this jewel is worth your attention. I thought you were above trinkets.”

The Eggman grinned. “Oh, Tails. There is more to the Chaos Emerald than meets the eye. Untold amounts of energy reside in these, nestled deep within their crystal lattices… Your Power Ring is put to shame.”

“Stronger than the Power Ring… That is indeed a force to be reckoned with. I don’t suppose you would indulge me with what you plan to do with such tremendous power.”

“I believe I have told you enough.” Robotnik finished. “However, I will inform you that I will ensure my survival with the power that the Chaos Emerald holds. However, you still have yet to answer my question. Now that I have stated my goals to a degree, I believe you can satisfactorily give me a response.”

Tails frowned. “I will endeavor to ensure my survival. However, I do not count roboticization as life.”

“What if I could guarantee that you will not be roboticized or killed by me or any faction under my orders?” Robotnik grinned. “Would that not count as ensuring your own survival?”

“Why do you offer me such a guarantee? Wouldn’t it be easier to add me to your army of drones? Why would you bother to keep me alive?”

“Because… The look on Sonic the Hedgehog’s face when flesh-and-blood Tails cuts him down would be far too amusing to pass up.” Tails visibly flinched, making Robotnik frown. “Are you still adverse to that idea?”

“Old habits die hard.” Tails droned. “Once upon a time, I was their obedient lapdog. Once upon a time, I would have sacrificed myself to ensure Sonic’s continued survival.” He paused. “However, that no longer… appeals to me.”

“You seem conflicted.”

“Psychologically, it is plausible.”

Robotnik shrugged. “True. Current understanding of behavior suggests that might happen. So let me ask you this: Tails, would you cut down Sonic the Hedgehog if it meant your continued survival? Would you kill Sally?”

Tails paused. Robotnik took another bite of his meat. The young fox spoke. His eyes were alight, shining like the sun. “I would kill each and every one of the Freedom Fighters if it meant my continued survival.”

“Then allow me to extend my most sincere invitations to my Empire. With your ingenuity, you will make a fine tactician and leader in my forces.”

Tails bowed his head, “I am certain I will enjoy this opportunity as much as you will. Also, my compliments to the chef for this fine meal.” Robotnik strode past him, out the door.

“I will convey that. I’m sure he will appreciate your compliments.” Robotnik exited the room. Tails stood up, and followed him. His eyes held only darkness.


End file.
